Tag Archives: TARP

There is a lot of finger pointing going on one year after Lehman declared bankruptcy. Most of those fingers are pointing to Lehman and the way the bankruptcy was handled. However, that is a very simplistic view of what happened … Continue reading →

You hear the buzz about the nationalization of Citi? What does this mean? The U.S. government has dropped $45 billion of cash on Citi and another $250b in debt backstops (guarantees). There is talk of converting some of the $45b … Continue reading →

What we saw yesterday was more of the same. I was flabbergasted that the plan was so light on details. They have had 3 months to put something together and the best they could deliver is a 7-page fact sheet. … Continue reading →

Once upon a time, there were three good banks: Bank of America, JP Morgan, and Citigroup. When the financial crisis started, these banks stepped up and seemingly did some favors for the government. JP Morgan acquired Bear Stearns (with some … Continue reading →

In a ‘historic’ move, the Fed slashes the Fed Funds rate 75bp. The new rate is only 25bp. Basically, zero interest rates. My opinion … this is no big deal. See my interview on BNN on this news. However, the … Continue reading →

Duke University/CFO Magazine survey 1,275 CFOs in the U.S., Europe and Asia was released today. I am the founding director of this quarterly survey and we have been conducting the survey for the past 51 quarters. The survey is unique … Continue reading →

The (in)famous Credit Default Swap (CDS) market provides the market’s best guess that an issuer will default on its debt. A low spread is good. A high spread is bad. Check this out. Campbell Soups’ (no relation!) CDS is less … Continue reading →

Image courtesy of flickr/Bill Barfield It wasn’t that long ago that Citigroup was considered a “good” bank. Remember October 1, 2008? Citigroup announced it was acquiring Wachovia with the help of the FDIC. You had to be strong to do … Continue reading →

Take Goldman Sachs. Around the time of the TARP equity injection announcement, it was trading for about $120 per share. It is currently below $60. That’s not as serious as some others. Citi’s current market cap is about $25.7 billion … Continue reading →

Bank of America is making a $7 billion dollar cash investment into China Construction Bank. Bank of America received $15 billion directly from TARP and will get another $10 billion (when they close the Merrill Lynch acquisition at year end). … Continue reading →